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Paul Taught Gentiles' Law Obedience Puts You Under A Curse.
Paul's doctrine in Galatians is clear: Gentiles who try to obey Torah damn themselves, and are cursed. Elsewhere, we prove that this was a common Pharisee doctrine. Gentiles who read the Law would be put to death by the Pharisees. For the startling proof, see Paul Taught Pharisee Doctrine Gentiles are Damned if they Try to Follow Law by Reading the Law. See also What Did Jesus Mean By Saying the Pharisees Did not Teach God's Mercy. We also prove there that Jesus in Mathew 5:17-19 intended to condemn this teaching by the Pharisees.
Paul Terrorizes Galatians Who Follow the Law
In Galatians, Paul bemoans Galatian Christians who wish to
keep sabbath as provided in the Ten Commandments -- a
command specifically applicable to all Gentiles in community
with Israel. See Deut. 5:12-15 ("sojourner within thy
gates"); Lev. 25:6 ("sojourner settling with thee"); Exo
23:12 (sojourner).
Paul then says "anathema" -- cursed -- are those who wish to
be just / justified by keeping such parts of the Law, i.e.,
sabbath, etc. For otherwise, Paul argues, they will have to keep
"all" of the Law, and not selected parts. (Gal. 1:6-12; Gal. 2:14-
16 (cursed if not continue in all points of law); Gal. 3:9-
12 (under a curse, misquoting Deuteronomy, as explained at
this link), Gal. 3:21.
(Paul thereby misrepresented the Law was all or nothing
for a Gentile, rather than tell Gentiles they were a
discreet category called sojourners in the Law which
had a few provisions which they had to abide by. See
The Law Applicable to Gentiles.)
As Bart Ehrman, a professor on the New Testament, explains:
“Paul is absolutely clear [in Galatians] that he thinks non-Jews are not to do these things [i.e., keep Sabbath, holidays, etc.] once they believe in Christ. In fact, in his most vitriolic letter, the one to the Galatians, he lays a curse on anyone who thinks that Gentiles who come to believe in Jesus should engage in such practices. (1:8-9; 2:15-16; 3:10-14.” (Bart D. Ehrman, Peter, Paul & Mary Magalene (2006) at 117.)
Hence, Paul curses those Gentile Christians who obey Sabbath for a Biblically-valid reason (i.e., Exodus 20:6 - mercy to those who love YHWH and obey commandments of YHWH).
Paul extends the same curse implicitly to Jews by saying that anyone who believes one is justified before God by "keeping the law" is actually lost if they did so. Gal. 2:15-16 ("no one" is justified by keeping the law.). Thus, implicitly Paul is saying Moses himself was a false prophet for in Deut 6:24-25 KJV Moses said:
"[YHWH] commanded us to observe all these statutes...Then it will be righteousness [i.e., justification] for us if we are careful to observe all these commandments...."
Paul's views are particularly ironic that Gentiles are
supposedly cursed by obeying Sabbath and being
circumcised when in very narrow circumstances the Law
required circumcision (e.g., for a gentile to enter the
Temple if he chose to enter which was optional) so as to
be righteous and continue as salvation-worthy in God's
eyes.
It is especially noteworthy that Paul emphasizes
dissuading Sabbath observance among Gentiles by
laying a curse on Gentiles when their attitude is to keep
a right standing with God mandated in Deut 6:24-25
quoted above. The irony is because Paul claims Gentiles
are the focus of Paul's ministries. Yet Paul appears unaware of
the verses on the promised new covenant, and the
conditions for the entry of Gentiles into it.
The promise in Isaiah 56 of salvation to Gentiles ("my
salvation is about to come", 56:1) through God's
suffering servant in Isaiah 53 (whom was obviously
Jesus) was predicated on two things: "keep the Sabbath
from profaning it and keep his hand from doing evil."
(Isaiah 56:2) or "who keep My Sabbaths, and choose
things that please Me, and take hold of my covenant."
(Isaiah 56:4,6). The word covenant means the ten commandments,
such as in the Ark of the Covenant, i.e., the box holding the tablets of
the Ten Commandments. Yahweh clearly adds in Isaiah 56:7 the aim:
"For my House, a House of Prayer, is called for all peoples." (Isaiah
56:7.)
This passage of Isaiah 56:6-7 identially appears in the Dead Sea Scrolls 125 BC. See link to PDF of page 363 of Abegg's DSS Bible.
We should mention that Jesus partially quotes this passage in Matthew 21:13: "It is written," he said to them, "'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it 'a den of robbers.'"
Paul's so-called 'gospel' thereby eviscerated one of the
key conditions of salvation for Gentiles -- the weekly
time out from work -- despite Paul claiming he had the
correct path of salvation for them. Oh what man cannot
be led to believe!
In the same vein, Paul says to the Galatian Christians
about those who obeyed God's commands as Christians
to stay in God's grace: "You have been severed from
Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by Law; you
have fallen from grace." (Gal. 5:4 NASB.)
So Paul acknowledges he is talking about true Gentile
Christians. They are severed from Christ by obeying
Sabbath rest as a condition of salvation as expressed by
God in Exodus 20:6 KJV. That verse says God grants
"mercy to those who love me and obey my
commandments."
Thus Paul teaches you are saved by faith alone, but
become damned by obeying one of God’s commands
in the Ten Commandments if motivated to satisfy the
requirement in Exodus 20:6— part of the Ten
Commandments too. Paul is talking about the Sabbath
command in context -- a command that was specifically
extended in the Law to Gentiles aka foreigners /
sojourners who dwelled among the sons of Israel.
And again on the parallel topic of circumcision (which
the Law necessitated a Gentile have done only if they
wished to enter the Temple at Jerusalem per Ezekiel 44:9
or wished to participate in passover per Exodus 12:49),
Paul says in the same context:
"Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let
yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no
value to you at all." (Gal. 5:2 NIV.)
Or as the KJV says, "Christ will profit you nothing." (Gal. 5:2 KJV.)
Thus, even a Gentile Christian who wanted to be
circumcised solely to enter the temple to avoid being
damned by defiling the Temple's holiness standard, Paul
says would actually lose their salvation for such clear
sin-avoidance. Hence, Paul warned a Gentile Christian
would be eternally separated from Christ by that act of
obedience to a command that the Law said a
Gentile must follow if they wanted to enter the
Temple at Jerusalem and pray.
Paul's statement is clearly a ludicrous principle -- you are supposedly damned for obeying a principle which the Law said you must obey so as not to be damned. How absurd!
NOTE: This was adapted from What Did Jesus Mean by Mercy that the Pharisees Did Not Teach?
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